Scene Audio Encoding with Transient Detection for HOA Bitstreams
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing three-dimensional audio technologies, particularly Higher-Order Ambisonics (HOA), face challenges in managing large data volumes due to the (N+1)² channels, leading to inefficiencies in transmission and storage, and neglecting transient signal processing results in degraded audio quality and user experience.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for scene audio signal encoding that includes transient detection and encoding of transient identifiers, along with direct encoding, spatial encoding, and decorrelation techniques to process transient signals, improving the quality of reconstructed audio.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If HOA order quantity increases to record more detailed sound scene information, then auditory effect quality is improved, but data volume increases causing difficulty in transmission and storage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separately processes transient signals from the HOA signal. By identifying transient components and handling them differently from steady-state components, the system can maintain high fidelity for important transient events while using more compact representations for other portions of the signal, thereby reducing overall data volume while preserving critical audio quality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the HOA signal processing into different components: transient detection, transient identification, and separate encoding paths for transient vs. non-transient portions. This segmentation allows the system to apply optimized compression strategies to different signal types, reducing total data requirements while maintaining high measurement precision for transient events
2Productivity
If channel encoding and decoding is performed to reduce bitstream size, then encoding efficiency is improved, but transient signal processing is neglected leading to degraded reconstructed audio quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary transient detection and identification before the main encoding process. By detecting transient signals in advance and marking them with transient identifiers, the system prepares the data structure to handle transient components appropriately during encoding, ensuring they receive sufficient bitrate allocation and processing attention while maintaining overall encoding efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different encoding quality levels to different portions of the signal based on transient identification. Transient components, which are locally identified through detection algorithms, receive higher quality encoding with more bits allocated, while non-transient portions use more aggressive compression. This local quality differentiation maintains high reconstructed audio quality for critical transient events while improving overall encoding efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
This application provides a scene audio signal encoding method and apparatus. The scene audio signal encoding method in this application includes: obtaining a to-be-encoded scene audio signal including audio signals of C channels, and C is a positive integer; performing transient detection on M channels, among the C channels, that need transient detection, to obtain transient identifiers of the M channels, where each transient identifier indicates whether a corresponding channel includes a transient signal, and 1≤M≤C; and encoding the transient identifiers of the M channels and the scene audio signal to obtain a bitstream. In this application, a transient signal in the scene audio signal can be processed, to improve quality of a reconstructed audio signal and auditory experience of a user.